Newly sprouted aspen trees, ferns and forest grasses carpet the forest against a backdrop of fire-killed trees along the Mint Spring Trail high in the Catalina Mountains, which was ravaged by the Aspen Fire five years ago.

Doug Kreutz / Arizona Daily Star

Other articles by Doug Kreutz:

Patagonia offers lovely back roads They're Olympic repeat attenders Have a look at a very old schoolhouse T is for triangle Go fast, go slow, get fit Scaling Ridgeline Southwestern Colorado worth a peak Tasty Beer Chips Grand Canyon Audio Ranger a great tool for visitors You can visit a real home on the range

Trades/Construction
Smyth Steel
Welders Trades/Construction
SINCLAIR SYSTEMS
FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIAN Health Care
RLM Services, Inc.
Pharmacist General
First Christian Church
Church Caretaker Production and Manufacturing
Industrial Tool, Die & Eng
CNC LATHE Health Care
Sonora Behavioral Health
RN Health Care
RLM Services, Inc.
Physician's Assistant

MINT SPRING — Wild mint grows in fragrant green clumps around a tiny pool of water welling up from scorched earth. The lush new growth of the pungent wild herb is just one of many signs of rebirth along the fire- ravaged Mint Spring Trail high in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.

It's been five years since the explosive Aspen Fire incinerated the forest that once shaded the trail near the village of Summerhaven.

The appearance of the area today — where aspen saplings, emerald ferns and spring green grasses draw the eye away from the hulks of dead trees — is verdant evidence that a new forest is rising from the ashes.

It's a resurrection that's also occurring elsewhere in the fire-scarred Catalina range.

"Right after the Aspen Fire, people wondered how the forest could come back — what it would look like," says Heidi Schewel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service. "Here, you're seeing it happen."

A walk on the 1.7-mile trail, which begins at the end of the Carter Canyon Road just west of Summerhaven, is a firsthand lesson in post-fire ecology.

Fast-growing aspen saplings — some of them already looking like full-fledged trees — grow in profusion along the first half-mile of the route.

"The aspens recover more quickly after a fire than conifers because they regenerate from root systems," Schewel says. "Other species — ponderosa pines, southwestern white pines, Douglas firs and white firs — do not regenerate from the root system. They'll need to regenerate from seeds. That will take a lot longer."

Farther up the trail, dense fields of ferns soothe a landscape of blackened tree stumps and fallen limbs. "The ferns and wildflowers are still benefiting from nutrients put back into the soil by ash from the fire," Schewel notes.

Tiny Mint Spring, issuing from the earth a short distance off the trail, is difficult to find amid post-fire undergrowth and toppled trees.

But those who rediscover the site in the days of late spring or summer will get a whiff — and perhaps a taste — of a natural herb garden that's still flourishing in the aftermath of the flames.

"It's just a small pool of water, but it's a beautiful place," says hiker Maribeth Morehart, who visited the spring before the fire and shortly after it. "I've smelled the wild mint, and I'm glad it's still there."